Barge, boat, and similar vessel.



PATENTED MAY 7, 1907.

G1 W. THEISS. l I BASSE, BOAT, AND SIMILAR VESSEL.

`APPLIOATION FILED JAN. Z3, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WJTNESSES.- l

THE NoRRls PE1-ks co. wAsmNGraN. n. c,

110.352.987. EATENTED MAY 7,1907. G. 77. TEEIss.

BAEGE, BOAT, lEND4 SIMILAR VESSEL.

APPLIOATION FILED .nur zs. 1907.

Z SHEETS-SHEET '2.

.fI/I/JTNSSES. .INI/ENTOR Genga Jl). Jgd.

By M

rus nanars PErERs co., wAsnlNumN, o. c.

GEORGE W. THEISS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

BARGE5 BOAT', AND SIMILAR VESSEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 7, 1907.

Application filed January 23, 1907. Serial No. 353,741.

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. THEIIss, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Barges, Boats, and Similar Vessels, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

P This invention relates to barges, boats and similar vessels em loyed for transporting coal and other merc andise.

My invention aims to provide a barge with detachable ends, thereby increasing the durability, draft, capacity and general efficiency of a barge. In this connection, my invention is particularly designed for that type of barge constituting a tow, or a plurality of barges lashed together for towing pur oses. As the barges are connectedtoget er and to a towing boat, considerable trouble has been experienced by the ends of the barges being crushed and injured, by suddenly contacting with one another and the tow boat. To repair the ends of the barges and maintain them in a perfect land non-leakable condition considerable labor and expense is necessary besides the docking and placing a barge out of commission.

To obviate the necessity of continually repairing the ends` of barges, and to increase the longevity thereof, I have devised simple, inexpensive and reinforced metallic ends adapted to be detachably connected to the body of a barge whereby the ends can be repeatedly used without necessitating the entire destruction of a barge when the body portion thereof has been rendered useless.

Hy improved metallic ends are designed to dispense with log heads and wooden sole pieces heretofore used, and to strengthen and reinforce that part of a barge known in boat parlance as the rake, which represents the curved ends of the barge extending from the sill to the bottom of the barge. The draft of a loaded barge necessarily retains the rakes in water, but when the barges are unloaded, the rakes are elevated, and subjected to atmospheric conditions, which in connection with a wooden barge, tend to contract and displace the calking or packing strips of the rakes, thus rendering a barge useless, until the same is calked or otherwise rendered water-tight. In providing metallic ends for abarge, I entirely obviate the necessity ofdrydocking a barge after each load or trip, and thereby further reduce the expense of maintenance in connection with barge transportation.

Various other features of construction, advantage and novelty will hereinafter more fully appear as the invention is described, and then specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings forming art of lthis specification, like numerals of re erence designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a barge constructed in accordance with my invention,

the barge being illustrated as partly broken away, Fig. 2 is a plan of the same, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of my improved detachable metallic ends partly broken away, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a metallic head or sill piece constituting part of my invention, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a metallic reinforcement used in connection with a barge, and Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view of my improved metallic end.

In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated a conventional form of barge consisting of a plurality of longitudinally disposed stringers 1 to which the floor 2 of the barge is secured. The entire floor is preferably composed of planking which is calked or otherwise rendered water-tight. The sides of the barge are composed of planks 3 connected together by plates 4, which are connected by cross beams 5. The structure just described constitutes the body portion of an ordinary barge and in order that the same may be fitted with my improved reinforced metallic ends, I round or cut the ends of the planks 3 constituting sides of the barge.

My improved metallic ends are constructed of curved plates 6, curved angle bars 7 yand 8, a transverse angle girder 9, a channelshaped beam or sill 10, tie plates 11 and 12, and curved splice bars 14.

The curved plates 6 are riveted to the curved angle'bars 7, said bars strengthening and reinforcing said plates. The upper edges of the plates 6 and the upper ends of the bars 7 are riveted to the tie plate 12 as at 15, and said plate is in turn riveted, as at 16,

to the channel-shaped beam or sill 10. VThe IOC curved plates 6 are connected together by the curved splice bars 14, which are substantially T-shaped in cross section. These bars 14 are riveted to the confronting edges of the plates 6, as at 17, and the lweb portion 18 of said bars is enlarged to provide a stifiener between the upper and lower edges of said plates. In Fig. 5 of the drawings, I have illustrated an ordinary curved T-bar 19 as having a stiffening plate 2O riveted to its iiange as at 21, the bar 19 and the plate 20 serving functionally the same purpose as the splice bar 14.

The curved angle bars 8 are riveted to the outer plates 6, as at 22. The upper edges of the curved angle bars 8 are riveted to the channel shaped beam or sill 10, as at 23, and to the depending ends of the tie plate 1l and the rearwardly bent ends of the tie plate 12, as at 24. In order that the upper ends ofthe bars 8 can be so riveted, the iiange 25 of the beam or sill l0 is cut away as at 26 to permit of the upper ends of the bars 8 being placed in engagement with the beam or sill 10 and the tie plate 11. i

In order that the metallic ends can be secured to the body portion of a barge, I provide the ends of the plate 12 with openings 27 and the vertical flanges of the bars 8 with openings 28. The angle bars 7 are of a less length than the plates 6, ywhereby the lower edges of said plates can protrude upon the floor or bottom 2 of the barge and be suitably secured thereto. Bolts and nuts 29 are employed for securing the plate 12 and the bars 8 to the sides of a barge, and if a water-tight connection cannot be established by merely using bolts and nuts as a connecting medium, pitch or a similar material can be interposed between the edges of the metallic ends and the wood Work of a barge.

From the foregoing description, it will be understood that l have devised metallic ends for barges that can be easily and quickly attached to a barge and detached at any desired time. The structural features of the metallic ends insure* a strong and durable construction capable of withstanding the blows of contacting barges. durable construction prevents the barge either empty or loaded, from being injured yb y contacting with floating ice or drift. It is a well known fact that in towing barges up' stream that the constant erosion or friction caused by ice readily cuts the ordinary wooden planks, with the result that the towing boat is placed out of commission until the barges have been repaired.

It is obvious that various materials, as pitch, oakum, cotton, gum, either in the shape of rubber plate or rubber liattened hose can be used for rendering the barges absolutely Water-tight, at the places of uniting the iron and wood.

It will be observed'that I have also devised The strong and' metallic ends for barges that can be readily used in connection with scows and similar boats, therefore I do not care to confine the principle of my invention specifically to barges. In providing thecurved metallic ends with reinforcing elements, I add considerable stability and rigidity to the curved frames constituting my improved metallic barge ends.

The metallic ends are constructed of light and durable metal, as steel, of a sufficient thickness to ordinarily prevent indentation and puncture from a well delivered blow.

Such changes in the size, proportion and minor details of construction as are permissible by the appended claims, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a barge, the combination with a wooden body portion, comprising a lio'or and sides, of metallic ends, each end consisting of curved plates, curved angle bars carried by said plates, some of said bars being reinforced, a channel-shaped beam or sill connecting With said plates, tie plates connecting with said bars and beam, and means to detachably secure one of said tie plates and said bars to the sides of said barge.

2. In a barge, the combination with a Wooden body portion having a floor and sides, of metallic ends detachably connected to said sides and Hoor, said ends consisting of curved plates, bars carried thereby, some of said bars being reinforced, a channel-shaped sill, and tie plates connecting said sill and said'bars together.

3. A metallic end for wooden barges comprising a pair of' curved end plates, a splice bar connecting the plates together and carrying a stilfener web, angle bars having one flange secured to the plates at the ends thereof and the other flange adapted to be secured to the plate at the ends ofthe said angle bars, a channel beam secured to said beam and said end plates having its ends projecting at right-angles to engage and be secured to the sides of a barge.

4. A metallic end for barges comprising an end member, angle bars secured thereto at the ends adapted to have one iiange thereof secured to a barge, a transverse angle girder secured to the end member adjacent its upper end, a channel beam secured to the upper end of said end member, and a tie plate secured to said channel member, and the end member, and to said angle girder, and having its end projected at right angles to engage f and be secured to the sides of a barge.

5. A metallic end for wooden barges, comprising an end member, angle bars having one flange secured to said end member at the ends thereof and the other flange adapted to be secured to the sides of a barge, an angle IOS ITO

ISO

girder secured to the member adjacent the In testimony whereof I aHX my signature upper end thereof, a channel beam secured to in the presence of tWo Witnesses. the upper end of said end member, and a tie THEISS. 1

' plate connected to the channel beam, and the angle girder and to the end member, and Witnesses: having its ends bent at right angles to engage MAX H. SROLOVITZ, and be secured to the sides of a barge. K. H. BUTLER. 

